On Friday, January 17, the Dartmouth College Postdoc Association (DCPDA) gathered with colleagues from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in celebration of National Postdoc Research Day at a symposium held in the Hanover Inn, Dartmouth.
Although the weather was typical New England winter, the freezing winds and icy conditions did not deter a hardy group of researchers, students, and faculty from gathering to learn about and develop strategies to meet the challenges and opportunities facing the postdoc community.
The event opened with welcome remarks from Dean of the Guarini School, Jon Kull and was followed by a keynote presentation over lunch in by speaker Elizabeth Winslow, Ed. D. from the Tuck School of Business on the topic of leadership.
Scholars from both institutions presented their research in short talks and several more participated in the poster session contest, which was won by Anna Tigana (UNH), Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, Diana Wallin (Dartmouth), Psychiatry, and Hannah Laue (Dartmouth), Epidemiology
Judges for the contest were drawn from a range of institutions highlighting the regional collaboration evident at the event. These included St. Anselm College, the University of New Hampshire, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth, among others.
Betsy Tremmel, Multilingual Student and Postdoctoral Writing Consultant at the Guarini School, served as a judge and commented that the poster session was "a wonderful opportunity to see the passion of the post-doctoral candidates in explaining their research."
The positivity around preparing and giving the research presentations was also remarked upon by the scholars. "Everyone enjoyed presenting their research, hearing about others' research, and meeting folks from Dartmouth." said Matthew Young, a postdoctoral research associate from UNH.
Later in the afternoon, eight round-table discussions ran concurrently covering a variety of career topics ranging from how to navigate campus interviews for faculty positions, to building a strong teaching portfolio as a postdoc, to pursuing different academic career paths. Representatives from several academic and administrative departments at Dartmouth led each table and the only problem noted was deciding which one to choose!
"It was wonderful to meet our postdoc peers from UNH, and to bond over shared issues during the Table Talks," said Emily Weybourne, DCPDA Chair.
Dean of Postdoctoral and Alumni Affairs, Victoria Blodgett hopes the event will continue to be collaborative. "The goal is to make this the pinnacle event in the postdoc calendar," she said. "Dartmouth continues to invest time and energy into developing the postdoc community and we would love these to lead to a regional connection."
Matt Young echoed this goal: "We hope we can continue holding these joint events! We've already begun talking about what we can do to host the event at UNH next year."
Congratulations to everyone who presented, and heartfelt thanks to all who made this event such a success. For photos of the event, please visit the album on our Flickr page. Photos by Lars Blackmore.
